Tobacco-cutting machinery



May 7, 1957 D. W. MOLINS ETAL TOBACCO-CUTTING MACHINERY 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 11, 1955 D. w. MOLINS ET AL 2,791,223

TOBACCO-CUTTING MACHINERY May 7, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 11, 19 55 lNVf/YI'ORS 2) DESMaN L/MOL/NS 5w KA SAMSQN y 7, l957 D. w. MOLINS ET AL 2,791,223

TOBACCO-CUTTING MACHINERY Filed July 11, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 522;; QWYLZZZL,

Avon/E75 nited States Patent "ice TOBACCO-CUTTING MACHINERY Desmond Walter Molins and James ArthurlVlasomDeptford, London, England, assignors to Molins Machine Company Limited, London, England, a British com- P y Application July 11, 1955, Serial No. 521,286

Claims priority, application Great'Britain'July 23, 1954 6 Claims. (Cl. 131-145) This invention concerns improvements in or relating to tobacco-cutting machinery.

According to the invention there is provided in a tobacco-cutting machine, conveyor means to support a stream of leaf tobacco and forward it towards a mouthpiece, pusher means arranged to engage and push forwardly tobacco received on said conveyor means, a detector member arranged to be pressed (e. g. by gravity) against said stream and movable in response to variations in the density of said stream, and means operatively connecting the said detector member to said pusher means whereby the operation of the latter is varied in response to movements of the detector member.

The said pusher means may comprise a movable (e. g. swingable) member arranged to be reciprocated over the said conveyor means. In order to eifectrthis reciprocation there may be provided a connecting member (e. g. a crank rod) arranged to reciprocate with a constant stroke, a further connecting member (e. g. a connecting rod) fastened to said movable member, a lever having one arm connected to the first said connecting member and another arm connected to the further said connecting member, whereby reciprocating movement of the first said connecting member is transmitted to the said further connecting member, and control means responsive to movements of the detector member to alter the distance from the pivot centre of said lever at which one of said connecting members is connected to an arm of said lever, thereby altering the stroke of the said connecting member.

The said control means may comprise a control element arranged to be moved in proportion to movements of the detector member and connected to one of said connecting members so as to be capable of moving such member along the lever arm to which it is connected. For this purpose the connecting member which is movable as aforesaid may be connected to a lever arm by means of a projection movable in a longitudinal slot in said arm.

Apparatus according to the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a small scale side elevation of a tobaccocutting machine showing the invention applied thereto.

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the left-hand end of Figure 1 showing the detailed construction of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a plan of part of Figure 2 looking in the direction of the arrow A.

Figure 4 is a section of Figure 2 on the line IV-IV, Figure 2.

Referring to the drawings the machine comprises parallel upper and lower conveyors 30 and 31A-31B, respectively, and converging side conveyors 32, which together define a passage along which leaf tobacco is fed in the direction of movement of the conveyors and is gradually compressed into the form of a cheese by the action of the converging side conveyors. The conveyors consist of endless chains such as disclosed in U. S. Patent 2,535,692,

Patented May 7, 1957 issued December 26, 1950. Because the side conveyors 32 converge, the lower chain conveyor is made of three side-by-side sections, the middle section 31A extending farther "along the passage than the side sections 31B. The upper conveyor 30 passes over sprockets 1, while the three sections of the lower conveyor extend rearwardly to sprockets 33 at the left-hand side of the machine. Thus at the rear end of the machine a considerable area of the lower conveyor is exposed, and leaf tobacco T (Figure 2) is fed on to this part of the lower conveyor through a chute generally indicated by the reference 2. This chute has a fixed front wall 34 and fixed side walls 3, and a movable back wall 4 which is arranged to act as a pusher means for tobacco in the chute and on the lower conveyor. The wall 4 is pivoted at 5 for reciprocating swinging movement -to and fro so as intermittently to push the leaf tobacco forwardly. This swinging movement is effected by means of a connecting member or rod 6 pivoted at 7 to a projection 35 from the rear of the wall 4. Lengthwise reciprocatory movement is imparted to the rod 6 by means of a crank rod 8 connected to a crank 36 driven from the interior of the machine by means not shown by which the rod 8 is moved to and fro with a constant stroke. The way in which the rod 8 imparts reciprocatory movement to the rod 6 will shortly be described.

A detector member consisting of a roller 9 is arranged to rest on the upper surface of the stream of tobacco which is supported and conveyed by the lower conveyor which as above described is of three times the width of the upper conveyor 30, the spaces on either side of the upper conveyor being filled in by fixed cover plates 37 and 38, the latter being broken away. The roller 9 is accommodated in an aperture in the cover plate 38.

The roller 9 is mounted on a spindle 9a between two plates 39 which are freely mounted in grooves formed in a roller 1a rotatable on the pivot 11. Thus the plates 39 can swing up and down about the pivot 11.

Fixed across the two plates 39 is a frame 10 on one end of which is an extension 10a connected to a link 13 which in turn is connected to one end of a lever 14 (Figure 2) pivoted on a fixed pivot at 15. The other end of the lever 14 has pivoted thereto a rod 16. To ensure permanent contact with the tobacco by the roller 9, a weight 12 is adjustably mounted on a rod 40, which latter is coupled to the roller 9 by the lever 14, link 13, frame 10 with extension 10a, and plates 39.

It will be seen that as the level of the tobacco passing beneath the roller 9 falls, the roller 9 and thus the frame 10 and extension 10a will swing clockwise as viewed in Figure 2 of the drawing, and this will cause the lever 14 to swing clockwise, with the result that the rod 16 will be drawn upwardly. Conversely an excess of tobacco passing beneath the roller 9 will cause the rod 16 to move downwardly.

A forked member 17 is fixed to the lower end of the rod 16 and is provided with a slot 18 through which passes a shaft 19. A double-armed lever having arms 20 and 21 is keyed on the shaft 19. The arm 20 carries a pin 21a which engages in one of a number of recesses or notches 22 formed in a bar 41 screwed on the rod 6. The arm 21 has a slot 23 through which projects a pin 24, which passes through the end of the crank rod 8 and by which the end of the rod 8 is also pivotally connected to the lower end of a member 25, whose upper part 25a is accommodated Within the forked member 17. The part 25a is formed as a ring which is held in position by a ring 26a which is fixed by bolts 26 passing through the forked member 17, and is thus caused to move up and down with the member 17, but is free to rotate within the latter.

As will be seen from the foregoing description, the crank rod 8 by engagement of the pin 24 with the slotted.

lever arm 21 causes the lever to swing about the shaft 19 and thus imparts corresponding movement to the rod 6 through the lever arm 20. If now the detector roller 9 moves for example downwardly, the rod 16 will move upwardly and the members 17 and 25 will be pulled upwardly. Therefore the end of the crank rod 8 will be pulled upwardly, the pin 24 rising in the slot 23 of the lever arm 21 thus altering the distance from the pivot centre 19 to the pin 24 at which the rod 8 is connected to the lever arm 21. As the stroke of the rod 8 is constant, this change of position results in an increased angular movement of the lever arms 20 and 21, and thus lengthens the stroke of the rod 6. Accordingly the swinging wall 4 will be swung a greater distance to and fro.

Conversely, when the detector roller 9 rises, the rod 16 is lowered and the distance between the end of the crank rod 8 and the shaft 19 is increased, with a consequent reduction in the length of the stroke of the rod 6.

The arrangement of the forked, slotted member 17 and the swinging member 25 arranged for swinging movement relatively to the member 17 but movable up and down with the member 17 has the advantage that it confines the swinging motion imparted by the rod 8 to the member 25, while the rod 16 and member 17 move in a straight line.

In operation, leaf tobacco is deposited by hand into the chute 2 and falls on the lower conveyor of the machine, and is thrust forward by the swinging wall 4 as the latter is swung forwardly and backwardly. If now the quantity of tobacco carried forwardly falls below a desired level, the detector roller 9 falls somewhat. Consequently the stroke of the rod 6 is lengthened as described above, and the wall 4 is thus caused to swing further forwardly and backwardly, and thereby increase the rate at which tobacco is fed forwardly from the chute. As the deficiency is in this way made good, the roller 9 rises again and the movement of the wall 4 is correspondingly adjusted. It will be seen also that if too much tobacco passes beneath the detector roller the latter will rise, and accordingly the wall 4 will be caused to swing a shorter distance, thus reducing the rate of feed.

The arm 20 is adjustable lengthwise by a screw 42 which passes through an arm 43 connected to arm 21 into one of a series of threaded holes in arm 20 to enable the stroke to be adjusted for different conditions, such as different kinds of tobacco. This however is necessarily a coarse adjustment, the stroke required at any moment during operation being automatically determined and adjusted by the mechanism described above.

This mechanism has the further function of automatically adjusting the stroke of the rod 6 if the swinging back Wall 4 should meet with any excessive resistance, such for example as a highly compressed mass of leaves, or some foreign body introduced into the chute by inadvertence. In such a case, the resistance imposed on the wall 4 is transmitted to the crank rod 8 which then tends to move downwardly in the slot 23 and so shortens 4 the stroke of the rod 6. The tobacco cheese formed from the leaves during transit along the passage is forced out of a mouth at 44, Figure 1, and cut into slices which forthwith disintegrate into shreds by a number of knives such as 45 mounted on a rotatable head 46.

It will be appreciated that mechanism such as has been described above could also be used in variou other cases Where, it is desired to be able to vary the extent of movement of a member (e. g. the stroke of a reciprocating member).

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A tobacco-cutting machine comprising a mouthpiece, conveyor means to support a stream of leaf tobacco and forward it towards said mouthpiece, pusher means arranged to engage and push forwardly tobacco received on said conveyor means, a detector member arranged to be pressed against said stream and movable in response to variations in the density of said stream, and means operatively connecting the said detector member to said pusher means whereby the operation of the latter is varied in response to movements of the detector member.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the pusher means comprises a movable member arranged to be reciprocated over the said conveyor means.

3. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the pusher means comprises a swingable member arranged to be reciprocated over the said conveyor means.

4. A machine as claimed in claim 2 comprising a connecting member arranged to reciprocate with a constant stroke, a further connecting member fastened to the member to be reciprocated, a lever having one arm connected to the first said connecting member and another arm connected to the said further connecting member, whereby reciprocating movement of the first said connecting member is transmitted to the said further connecting member, and control means responsive to movements of the detector member to alter the distance from the pivot centre of said lever at which one of said connecting members is connected to one of said arms of said lever, thereby altering the stroke of the said connecting member.

5. A machine as claimed in claim 4 wherein the control means comprises a control element arranged to be moved in proportion to movements of the detector member and connected to one of said connecting members so as to be capable of moving such member along the lever arm to which it is connected.

6. A machine as claimed in claim 5, wherein the lastnamed lever arm is provided with a longitudinal slot, and wherein the last named connecting member i provided with a projection extending into said slot so as to connect said member to said arm and movable in said slot lengthwise of the arm.

FOREIGN PATENTS 706,859 Great Britain Apr. 7, 1954 

